Spirits
He stood in a pool of pure white light.
The floor didn't seem to be stone or earth. "What is this? What is this? What is this?" "Who are you?" He cried out to the voice. "Who am I indeed, he asks? I think I should be asking the questions, he is after all, trespassing�" The words were rapid and spoken with an unintelligible lisp. Try as he might Talen could see only light. "Trespassing where?" "Only a mortal would ask such questions. Who and where indeed, as if such things truly exist�" A question popped into Talen's head, but it didn't seem logical at all to ask, but he did� "Then when am I, sir, if the who and the there do not exist, something must if only time�" Something crossed the pool of light, a shadow of something, but it quickly passed. "Intelligent it is, for a mortal, perhaps we can teach it things, things that most mortals do not know, care to know, or will never know. Make it do tricks, perhaps. Fun tricks�" Talen didn't care much for the content of that. He reached beyond the light. He cringed. Cold. Very cold� "Watch it, we will�perhaps it will, change, with�time. But we will not imprison it, no, that would be cruel, too cruel. But watch it, we will. It has a path, it does, as most mortals do, it will not be there and here often or too long. "I see the path, its path, I can even see its mind� It fears us, it does not understand us, yet. It may soon, or may not�" The coldness spread along Talen's arm, he could no longer feel his hand. "Are we evil, it thinks, should it ask for help, would he be obligated to help us, it asks� Would it know evil if it were to look upon it, I ask. Yes. I ask this question. To test it. To see if it is worthy of our attention. "Would you know evil, mortal, would you know it if you were to look at it, perhaps, mortal?" Another shadow passed into the light, looking over him, breathing� He did not look up. Talen thought about the question, and fought to keep his first answer from leaving his lips, but the damage was done. "Yes, it thinks, yes, he thinks he would, but it thinks still about the answer. It does. Its mind is indeed a precious thing, it wars upon itself. Methodical. Logical. He thinks that there is indeed a limit to the mortal mind. True. This is true. A humbling thought, to its kind. It would be. It thinks now. No, it thinks, now." Agonizing pain, from his hand, the hand that had touched the darkness. His heart began to slow and his mind began to as well. "It knows pain, now. It still does not ask for help. It thinks to ask to save itself, it would jeopardize others with its price. Should one be asked. There is always a price it thinks. Always. But it still thinks of our question. Its mind is indeed a delightful thing�" "No. I would not know it." Talen chattered. He bent doubled in the light. The shadow was still there. "Know what, mortal?" "Evil. I would not know it, should I see it." The cold crept about his body. The shadow was but an indistinct mask. "Why would you not know it, mortal?" "It cannot be seen." Talen uncontrollably shivered. "Only felt, it thinks, only felt, but not through touch. Touched, and not touched, it thinks. It knows and does not know. Evil. It does. Seen and not seen, evil is, and will always be. It wonders now. What. It wonders. What happens now? Maybe we should ask it another question, I like its mind. Can we ask it? What could we ask it?" Cold. Terribly so. Tiringly so. He closed his eyes and imagined a warm blanket wrapped about himself and a warm, cheerful fire. Another voice, "Leave him be, his time with us is passing, let him go�" Talen struggled to see and saw only the light and felt the voice, "We will watch him, though, I like his heart as well as you like his mind." "We will watch it, then, good, I think it will be interesting to see, to watch�"Return to Uncommon Valor